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Truly Dreadful Film

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

It may interest you to know before seeing Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (and by the way thankfully Toho didn't go with the original title of Godzilla & Rodan & Mothra Jr vs Ghidorah, though they'd later have such ungainly titles in the early 2000's), that most of the monsters don't show until the halfway point. With the exception of a sequence on a variety show where two children ask for what they would like most in the world, they say they'd like to see Mothra and, since it's all been pre-planned(!) the people of the Infant island are behind a curtain along with the two lovely twins from the island and by way of song make it so not just the kids but *everyone watching on TV* get to see the island itself and Mothra on it, it's a story of the humans and a 'Venusian' Princess. I don't think this is necessarily a negative for any monster movie as long as the human characters give me something to keep my attention or, if they're daring enough, do something that's really out there (i.e. satirize bureaucracy in Shin Godzilla).In Ghidorah, we get a story that could have come out of a pulp comic book or paperback (I'll get to the comic book element in a moment), where the start of the movie has a Princess on a plane getting word from, uh, somewhere, telekinetic-like, that she has to get off the plane and run. She does and the plane explodes, which sets off this woman, who claims to be a survivor from the planet Venus and has a warning to Earth that destruction is coming to her, being sought after by some sinister agents. Are they also from Venus? Does it fully matter? All we have to see is that some guy with those frilly things around his neck like it's the Renaissance era tells another guy to go kill the Princess. And yet, are you ready for this, this Princess may not even be from Venus at all(!) What gives? Possession? Well, you'll just have to tune in to find out, kids! Once again there is a room for newspaper reporters with some of the character action, though here the main heroes are a cop/bodyguard and a female reporter who wants to get the Princess' word out to the world (there's an actually tense sequence at a hotel room that involves the threat of violence with a knife that, somehow, feels more harsh its mere suggestion than most of the other cartoonish monster attacks to come, largely by the presence of the sun-glass-wearing assassin). This plot is the stuff of B-movie trash, but it's directed and written and performed so straight that it comes around to being sincere and believable and clever; this part of the movie, with maybe a scene or two exception, doesn't have to be enjoyed as a guilty pleasure thing, it works as a legit pleasure.Of course we're waiting for the monsters to come, and they do, with the Big Bad space invader Ghidorah, a three-headed winged serpent that has destroyed all of Venus except for the spirit of the being inside the Princess, and it's up to Mothra to stop him... no, wait, Godzilla and Rodan have to stop fighting one another, let alone the two attacking the city as they usually do, to band together. It's in this sense the movie goes most into being a comic-book kind of movie, akin to The Avengers though in an ironic way since their de rigur is to destroy the world not to save it. This also comes with, no joke, Godzilla and Rodan *talking to one another* as the twins translate what they are supposed to be saying through, uh, body language and such. But, ultimately, they put aside their differences and face Ghidorah together. It's the first true monster mash in this series of Toho movies (prior to this it was one-on-one fights between Godzilla and someone else), and it's pretty spectacular as far as these movies go.I think I liked how the filmmakers were able to balance human characters we could at least partially invest in, that had the modicum of depth and personality that should be there (and there is, genuinely), so that by the time the monsters come we have people to latch on to, including the Space-being-possessed princess. If things stick out it's mostly due to comparisons: Ghidorah is a marvel of a movie monster, and moves pretty well for 1964, with an imposing presence and nice lightning-bolt special effects. Rodan, by comparison, looks like crap and can barely move. When he/it does, it looks like some puppet from a by-gone era. There are also moments where humor comes in with the monster fight, or what they try to do (at one point Godzilla and Rodan toss rocks at each other like it's a game of tennis), but it's the unintentionally funny moments that stick out.All this said, I'd put Ghidorah as one of the major efforts from Toho during this period, or even overall for the entire franchise, it's that good; there's hypnotic music with the twin ladies, exciting monster fights, and not half-way bad human characters. And there's even a message about, well, sharing humankind! 8.5/10

This is the fifth entry in the Godzilla series. This is also the first film appearance of Godzilla's Arh nemesis, King Ghidorah. The plot goes something like this: Detective Shindo is assigned to protect princess Selina Salno. However her plane is destroyed en route by a bomb and is assumed dead. She turns up again claiming she's a princess from mars, and making prophecies of forthcoming disaster. However her predictions start coming true, and Rodan rises from a crater and Godzilla emerges from the sea. Meanwhile a meteor crashes. The Shobijin( Mothra's fairies) don't go on a boat taking them to birth island because of Selina's prediction, and it ends up being destroyed by Godzilla. Selina then reveals that mars was destroyed by a space dragon, King Ghidorah. And that he's already arrived on earth in a meteor. Anyway thats the main plot. What I wanna talk about is Ghidorah. He has a rather interesting design. Three heads, two tails, big wings and no arms, plus the ability to fire bolts of gravitational from his mouth. This film has its action-orientated parts, like the the gunfights between Shindo and Selina's assassins and the giant monster battles. It also has its comedic parts such as when Ghidorah zaps Godzilla in the nuts, or when Rodan and Godzilla laugh at each other, after getting sprayed by Mothra. The special effects are average for a Japanese film. Rodan's hand puppet looks like crap. The acting is suburb and feels pretty real, except for a few scenes. Overall this is one of the better films in the series.

A meteorite from space lands in Japan. At about the same time Godzilla and Rodan also awaken to wreak some havoc. It soon transpires that the asteroid is Ghidrah, destroyer of planets, and a missing princess has had her body taken over by one of the last remaining Venusians. Eventually the humans must call on Mothra to convince Rodan and Godzilla to stop kicking rocks at each other and help save the planet. Same, same, but packs less of a punch. The main reason may be due to Ghidrah's origins. His three foes are all products of humanities mistakes regarding nuclear weaponry. Ghidrah is just a planet destroyer from space. You will enjoy this if you've seen the other films, and Godzilla and Rodan's quarreling is brilliantly comical. There's certainly more life in Godzilla's face than there has been before. Monster smack down time!

This film is one of the original series' best in my opinion. Four of my favorite monsters coming together for the hugest battle yet seen (at the time of course). This film also holds a very special place in my heart, seeing as it was the first GOOD Godzilla movie I ever owned. Back when I must've been four I'd estimate. The only G-film I'd seen prior to this was "Godzilla vs. Megalon", but compared to this film it only looks even crappier! I unfortunately broke my VHS copy of it at nine due to excitement over a new G-film I'd been given as a present and up until 2007 I thought I would never see the film again. Fortunately, Classic Media recognized its greatness and released on a spectacular DVD. Another reason I love this film is the fun plot. Of course it's dropped any mention of nukes or strong themes, but I still find it one of Sekizawa's best. Next time around let's say Princess Salno used a parachute instead of "leaping in between dimensions". As for the characters, this film has a really good cast. Akikko Wakabayashi (the Princess/Martian prophet) is excellent and fine by the way. Takashi Shimura stars as another 'Dr.' character and his performance is as usual, top notch. Akihiko Hirata stars in a small role where as Yuriko Hoshi returns playing a very similar character to her previous role in "Mothra vs. Godzilla", done well. Along with all the other actors, every one gives entertaining performances, Honda even adding some cool shoot out scenes.The special effects are mostly good. King Ghidorah was an incredible accomplishment for Eiji Tsubaraya. The three headed dragon looks magnificent both on the ground and flying. The gravity beams were done exceptionally well, where as Godzilla's heat ray became a mist due to the money spent on Ghidorah. Anyways, the space demons rampage scenes are beautiful and I love the odd shriek. All the sets are huge and well constructed, my favorite being the downwards sloping hill where Ghidorah (or Ghidrah as he's called in the dubbing) is first confronted by Godzilla and Mothra. Godzilla and Rodan's battle is just cool and full of energy and Ifukube's music fits it perfectly. The best two parts were Godzilla using his tail and Rodan lifting the King of the Monsters into the sky and dropping him onto the electrical tower. The continuity is still there and still no aliens (although King Ghidorah is technically an extraterrestrial). Godzilla looked great, considering it's the incredible suit from the last film. Except for its eyes, which didn't look as imposing. Rodan looked decent, but nowhere near as impressive as the 1956 original. The final battle is an excellent display of SFX and real action. Total highlight of the film no doubt.When you're a seven or nine year old watching these films you don't notice these things but times change. Whereas Sekizawa was quite the writer, it can be noted he brung the first essences of campiness into the original Godzilla series. The monster summit isn't really campy per say, but it does lower the seriousness of the film. It is the beginning of Godzilla's hero stance, which will soon become the beginning of the end for his career till 1984 ("Godzilla 1985" begins the second series of films). Luckily, Godzilla still gets his menacing scenes at Yokohama harbor and he does kill hundreds of innocent people on a cruise boat when he first emerges from the ocean depths, done nicely. The characters still fear him and don't look at him as a hero just yet. In a way he just settled a brief negotiation. But I didn't know Godzilla cursed: "Oohhh, Godzilla what horrible language", twin fairies translating at the monster summit. In the end it's rather funny so I appreciate it more and more with each viewing. And seeing as I as I watch the film on a weekly basis, you get the idea.Well, the first three G-films had elaborate and often unnecessary Americanization's, with added American scenes, changes to the SCORE, and even changing Godzilla's name to Gigantis! "Mothra vs. Godzilla" was the first to avoid it, but this film to a degree didn't. The story is left intact and there are no American actors edited in but Ifukube's score is AGAIN tampered with!! Thankfully not as much as in "King Kong vs. Godzilla". Other than that the American cuts actually make sense and actually fix that continuity error with King Ghidorah (buy the Classic Media DVD and watch the Japanese version). Overall, I love this film for several reasons and if you haven't seen it, you most definitely should.